Parity Productions Announces 2022 Commission Winners

Parity Productions, the New York-based theatre company dedicated to producing new work by women, trans, and gender-expansive playwrights and filling at least 80% of the creative positions (playwrights, directors, and designers) with women, trans, and gender-expansive artists, has awarded two commissions to SAM MUELLER for 70.3 and JORDAN RAMIREZ PUCKETT for En Las Sombras. The ceremony took place on Thursday, October 6th as a hybrid event over zoom and in person at the Manny Cantor Center.

The awards were presented by 2021 Commission Winners Kelley Nicole Girod and M Sloth Levine.

Each year, Parity awards two commissions to women, trans, or gender-expansive playwrights who have demonstrated a singular talent for storytelling. The selected playwrights receive $2,500 each, extensive development support from Parity, including at least one public reading, with an option for Parity to produce their work.

"We are thrilled with two latest additions to our Commission family of plays by women, trans and gender expansive playwrights," says Parity Founder and Artistic Director, Ludovica Villar-Hauser. "We look forward to developing these two extraordinary works that function so beautifully in harmony with our mission."

Those interested can support this year's Commission winners and other Parity artists by donating to Parity at http://www.parityproductions.org or by bidding on Parity Productions' auction items at CharityBuzz until Tuesday, October 18 at 11:59 PM. All funds raised through Parity's auction support their work with women, trans, and gender-expansive theatre artists.

Parity Productions identifies, develops, and produces new work exclusively by women, trans, and gender-expansive playwrights. At all phases of development and production, our creative teams are comprised of 80-100% women, trans, and gender-expansive artists. Our work unrelentingly centers the experiences of women, trans, and gender-expansive individuals onstage and off to provide urgent perspective to our audience and the industry, and to create greater momentum in achieving gender parity within the American theatre.

Sam Mueller (they/them, she/her) is a Chicago-born, Florida-raised, New York-based playwright. Their work primarily explores queer bodies, public spaces, and the search for safety and security to live as one's authentic self. Their plays include Laced (2022 Princess Grace Semifinalist, 2020 Kilroys List, 2019 O'Neill Finalist), 70.3 (2020 Hearth Theater Commission), and LYS (2021 WMU Commission). They find a deep joy in working with students; their work has been read at Northwestern University, Columbia College Chicago, University of Central Florida, Western Michigan University, and University of Dayton. Sam is a proud member of Youngblood at Ensemble Studio Theatre. The plays (and Sam) are all very queer. BS: Northwestern University.

Jordan Ramirez Puckett (they/them) is a Latine writer from the San Francisco Bay Area. Their plays include En Las Sombras, To Saints and Stars, A Driving Beat, Las Pajaritas, Restore, and Inevitable. These works have been produced and/or developed by Abingdon Theatre Company (New York, NY), Creede Repertory Theatre, Goodman Theatre (Chicago, IL), Harold Clurman Laboratory Theatre Company (New York, NY), Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, Playwrights Foundation (San Francisco, CA), Playwrights Realm (New York, NY), San Diego Repertory Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, among others. Jordan is currently attending the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at Juilliard.

Ludovica Villar-Hauser

Ludovica Villar-Hauser is the Founder, Artistic Director and Executive Director of Parity Productions. At Parity, her directing credits include the world premieres of Charlie's Waiting by 2017 Commission Winner Mêlisa Annis, Mirrors by 2018 Commission Winner Azure D. Osborne-Lee, Stop-Motion by 2018 Commission Winner Liz Kerin, and the award-winning She Calls Me Firefly by Teresa Lotz. Prior to founding Parity Productions, Ludovica directed many critically acclaimed plays in the U.S. and U.K., including Final Analysis by Otho Eskin (Signature Theatre); The Countess by Gregory Murphy (Lamb's Theatre) and in London's West End (The Criterion Theatre); Leaves of Glass by Phillip Ridley (Peter Jay Sharpe Theater); As It Is in Heaven by Arlene Hutton (The Cherry Lane); The Brightness of Heaven, (The Cherry Lane) and This Will All Be Yours (The Barrow Group Theatre) by Laura Pedersen; and Long Day's Journey Into Night by Eugene O'Neill in London's West End (The Arts Theatre). The filmed stage production of Stop-Motion by Liz Kerin in 2021 marks Ludovica's directorial film debut. In 1984, at the age of 23, with her production of O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night, Ludovica became the youngest woman ever to simultaneously produce and direct in London's West End. In the New York theatre industry, she was also one of the few women to own and operate her own theatre - The Greenwich Street Theatre - which she ran for 17 years. Ludovica served on the Board of the League of Professional Theatre Women from 2009-2018, is currently the Producer of the League's Oral History Project at the NYPL for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center and is the League's Co-President.

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